About Jean Quenneville

Quesneville (he sometimes signed Quesneville, Quenneville) Jean, master tailor, royal court officer for the jurisdiction of Montreal, jailer and keeper of the prisons of that town: b. 1653, son of Pierre Quesneville, master tailor in the parish of Saint-Nicolas, in the Diocese of Rouen and of Jean Saye: d. 23 Aug 1701 at Montreal.

Quesneville was at first a master tailor at Montreal. He continued to practice this trade along with his judicial functions. He became precentor, then verger and subsequently was appointed court officer in the bailiff's court of Montreal in 1681. On 25 July 1690, he became jailer and prison keeper for a period of three years but continued as court officer. On three occasions in 1686, 1687 and 1692, he was clerk in the court registry. He was likewise acting judge in 1691, 1692 and 1693. In 1694 he received the position of royal court officer which he kept until his death in 1701.

On 12 Feb 1674, at Montréal, (Notre-Dame), QC he married Denise Marié, daughter of Pierre Marié, fencing-master in the parish of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, and of Jeanne Lord. Ten children were born of this marriage.

Robert Lahaise

"Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol II 1701-1740" page 534

From the University of Montreal genealogie site the following is from the immigration records

Around 1672, Jean Quenneville and his brother Jean Baptiste were the two first Quennevilles who immigrated from France to Quebec in New France. Jean was 19 and Jean Baptiste only 13. Jean Quenneville was one of the first inhabitants of Lachine, the third parish established by the French on the island of Montreal. (1)

Specifically, they migrated from St. Nicolas Parish in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, France, to Montreal in New France. Quenneville is a Norman Canadian name which comes from a disappeared place name in Normandy, France. One source says Quenne was the old Norman word for oak. See official biographical data at bottom.

While Jean was originally from Rouen, his wife Denise was from Paris, but they married in Montreal. On January 12, 1674, Jean signed a marriage contract in Montreal and they then married February 12, 1774 in a wedding ceremony in Our Lady of Montreal.

How did this happen? From 1667-1777, the King of France Louis XIV personally funded the passage of 767 young women to travel New France, nicknamed the "King's Daughters (Filles du Roi)." The goal was to help populate Quebec, which at the time had six male colonists for every one female. Jean Quenneville married one of these Daughters of the King, Denise Marié. She came over to Montreal in 1673, they must have met, and they got married by Feb 1774. The Daughters of the King are well-documented, and she is mentioned as no. 518 of 764 on the list below, which also says she arrived in 1673.

"For a period of seven years, the King of France sent at his expense, several thousand young women to New France, whom, the majority of, came from the Paris area or the diocese of Rouen. They were poor, abandoned, with no future in France. The King bestowed upon them a dowry of between 50 and 300 livres (pounds)."

In the year they married 1674, Jean Quenneville is listed as an inhabitant of Lachine, one of the first three parishes on the island of Montreal. In fact, Lachine Parish had only been founded seven years earlier in 1667.

The 1781 census shows Jean and Denise in Verdun fief, now a borough on the island of Montreal. The census mentions they cleared six acres of farmland and that Jean has one gun.

Jean Quenneville was a Master Tailor by trade, like his father in Rouen. In Montreal, he was also cantor, sacristan, and churchwarden in the church and was very active in the judiciary with many roles over decades including a bailiff, court clerk, jailer, prosecutor, acting judge on three occasions, and later a royal court officer from 1694 until his death in 1701.

Pioneers The two Quenneville brothers Jean and Jean Baptiste were among the early pioneers of Montreal. To give an idea of how small Montreal's population was when Jean Quenneville lived there, in 1700, the year before he died there, it had only 1,000 inhabitants--28 years after he had arrived around 1672. Over 100 years later in 1789 it had only 5,500 people.

Montreal was founded in 1642 as a missionary colony on an island, but by 1672 the city revolved around the French fur trade around the length of the St. Lawrence River. ~900 Indians are said to have camped in Montreal regularly to trade around 1670. The first street layout was just in the planning stages when Jean Quenneville arrived in 1672.

In 1665, just 7 years prior to Jean Quenneville's arrival, Louis XIV had sent 1200 French troops to Montreal to attack the Iroquois. All men at the time were given guns and could be enlisted for military service. One history describes Montreal as a rough place where it was difficult to maintain order. Jean Quenneville was a Master Tailor by trade and was educated, working in church duties and extensively in the judiciary (see above).

It is interesting to imagine what a Master Tailor could create in a fur trade hub, but one thing Jean Quenneville almost certainly made was hats from beaver pelts. The main fur traded in North America was beaver pelts, used for hat-making especially in England and France, but beavers had become nearly extinct in Western Europe. Indian tribes did most of the work trapping beavers and traded them to colonists for weapons, tools, beads, etc.

During the time when Jean Quenneville lived with his family in Montreal from 1672-1701, they were at the center of the Beaver Wars 1640-1701. The French had allied with Algonquin, Huron and other tribes to trade for pelts, but the Iroquois were allied with the British and wanted to control the fur trade themselves. The French and Iroquois Confederacy fought bitterly for control of the beaver territory and trade, with many raids back and forth.

Jean Quenneville and his wife had children, including our ancestor Jean Baptiste Quenneville. Records show Jean Baptiste was was born in 1682 in Lachine, a central borough of Montreal that still exists today. Lachine was a launching point for fur-trading expeditions in canoes westward down the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and thousands of miles into the interior of North America. Lachine today in downtown Montreal is home to the Fur Trade in Lachine National Historic Site. Given Lachine's role as a canoe expedition hub, it seems very likely that Jean Quenneville and his family would have canoed far beyond Montreal at some point.

Seven years after the birth of Jean Baptiste Quenneville in Lachine, that same borough was the site of the Lachine Massacre of 1689, a major event in the history of New France. 1500 Mohawk warriors raided and burned Lachine in Montreal and killed around 80 people--which was around 10% of Montreal at that time. Jean Quenneville died in that same borough of Lachine in 1701.

In 1889, historian Désiré Girouard listed the Quennevilles as being survivors of the Lachine Massacre in 1689. However, a newer list correcting Girouard's says "the Quenneville's no longer lived in Lachine in 1689." (although Jean died there in 1701).

On August 4,1701, the French signed a major peace treaty with First Nations, the Great Peace of Montreal. On hand were 1300 representatives of 40 First Nations including Iroquois, Huron, and Algonquin. Jean's ten children would continue to live in Montreal under this peace treaty. Jean Quenneville and his family almost certainly were present at this massive meeting of Indian and French administrators, a major event in the history of New France. Jean Quenneville died in Montreal on August 23, 1701, just weeks after the Great Peace was signed there. The Great Peace of Montreal is said to be unique in the history of the Americas and it is still valid and recognized by the First Nations today.

"QUESNEVILLE (he sometimes signed Quesnevillé, Quenneville), JEAN, master tailor, royal court officer for the jurisdiction of Montreal, jailer and keeper of the prisons of that town; b. c. 1651, son of Pierre Quesneville, master tailor in the parish of Saint-Nicolas, in the diocese of Rouen, and of Jeanne Saye; d. 23 Aug. 1701 at Montreal.

Quesneville was at first a master tailor at Montreal. He continued to practise this trade along with his judicial functions. He became precentor, then verger, and subsequently was appointed court officer in the bailiff’s court of Montreal in 1681. On 25 July 1690 he became jailer and prison keeper for a period of three years, but continued as court officer. On three occasions, in 1686, 1687, and 1692, he was clerk in the court registry. He was likewise acting judge in 1691, 1692, and 1693. In 1694 he received the position of royal court officer, which he kept until his death in 1701.

On 12 Feb. 1674, at Montreal, he had married Denise Marié, daughter of Pierre Marié, fencing master in the parish of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, and of Jeanne Lord. Ten children were born of this marriage.

Robert Lahaise "

(1) "THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF LACHINE These were the Frenchmen who colonized Lachine, amidst all kinds of hardships and dangers, especially during the Indian war which waged fiercer there than at any other point, as it was the most advanced post. The population, in 1689, was spread about the whole shore from Verdun to above Dorval Islands, and included the habitants of Bout de PIsle. The latter as will appear later on, (1) were forced to leave after the massacres of 1687.

About 70 habitations and some 320 souls made up the whole population of Lachine, exclusive of the soldiers in garrison...

Jean Quenneville, 30 and Denise Marie, his wife, 27: six acres under cultivation, one gun."